Abstract
Tibetan Plateau vortices (TPVs) are mesoscale cyclones originating over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) during the extended summer season (April–September). Most TPVs stay on the TP, but a small number can move off the TP to the east. TPVs are known to be one of the main precipitation-bearing systems on the TP and moving-off TPVs have been associated with heavy precipitation and flooding downstream of the TP (e.g., in Sichuan province or over the Yangtze River Valley). Identifying and tracking TPVs is difficult because of their comparatively small horizontal extent (400–800 km) and the limited availability of soundings over the TP, which in turn constitutes a challenge for short-term predictions of TPV-related impacts and for the climatological study of TPVs.
In this study k](i) manual tracking (MT) results using radiosonde data from a network over and downstream of the TP are compared with (ii) results obtained by an automated tracking (AT) algorithm applied to ERA-Interim data. Ten MT-TPV cases are selected based on method (i) and matched to and compared with the corresponding AT-TPVs identified with method (ii). Conversely k]ten AT-TPVs are selected and compared with the corresponding MT-TPVs. In general k]the comparison shows good results in cases where the underlying data are in good agreement k]but considerable differences are also seen in some cases and explained in terms of differences in the tracking methods k]data availability/coverage and disagreement between sounding and ERA-Interim data. Recommendations are given for future efforts in TPV detection and tracking k]including in an operational weather forecasting context.
摘要
高原低涡是夏半年(4-9月)生成于青藏高原上空的中尺度气旋系统. 其中, 大部分高原低涡滞留在高原地区, 只有少部分能够东移出高原. 高原低涡是青藏高原地区的主要降水系统之一, 并且, 移出的高原低涡与青藏高原下游的强降水和洪涝密切相关(如四川省、长江流域等). 因为相对小的水平尺度(400-800公里)和青藏高原有限的探空站点, 识别和跟踪高原低涡是困难的, 这也制约了对高原低涡影响的短期预报和其气候学研究.
为此, 针对高原低涡的识别和跟踪, 本研究基于青藏高原及其下游探空站网数据的人工追踪结果与基于ERA-Interim数据的自动跟踪算法结果进行了比较分析. 应用人工方法选择10个高原低涡个例, 并与自动方法识别的相应结果匹配对比. 相反, 应用自动方法选择10个高原低涡个列, 并与人工方法的结果匹配对比. 结果表明:一般情况下, 只要基础数据吻合一致, 则对比具有好的结果. 但在一些个例中, 也会观察到较大的差别, 并根据不同追踪方法的差异性, 探空与ERA-Interim资料的可用性/覆盖率和不一致性进行了解释, 也由此针对高原低涡的探测和跟踪, 包括其业务天气预报提出了未来努力的建议.
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Acknowledgements
This work and all its contributors were supported by the UK–China Research and Innovation Partnership Fund through the Met Office Climate Science for Service Partnership (CSSP) China as part of the Newton Fund grant agreement P100195 between the Met Office and the National Centre for Atmospheric Science at the University of Reading for the MESETA (Modelling Physical and Dynamical Processes over the Tibetan Plateau and their Regional Effects over East Asia) project. We thank the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments, which helped to improve the manuscript.
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Curio, J., Chen, Y., Schiemann, R. et al. Comparison of a Manual and an Automated Tracking Method for Tibetan Plateau Vortices. Adv. Atmos. Sci. 35, 965–980 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-018-7278-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-018-7278-4